joe’s best of the year so far, pt. 2

And so now the wrap-up, the back-end of my favorite music of 2006 2007 (I’m an idiot) so far. No need for pussyfooting, lets just get right to it.

The Long Blondes, Someone to Drive You Home Another one I’ve been talking about a lot, so probably not much more is required except to say that the decision to append all the B-Sides to the end of the U.S. release was probably a bad one, because it makes this record way too long. The UK version stops with “A Knife for the Girls.” That’s about right.

The Rosebuds, “Cemetery Lawns” This record was a disappointment, but I’m still a big fan of this song; zooming synths, off-mic shouts, and a melody that bobs and weaves and sounds like summertime through and through.

The Shout Out Louds full-length that’s arriving in September is already one of my favorite records of the year. All of their influences are pretty clearly traceable, but when the end result is a perfect pop song, who can complain? The first weekend I had this song in my possession, I played it around 50 times. The part near the end where the vocalist starts mimicking the violin part in falsetto is pure gold. It’s pretty clearly indebted to Robert Smith but, hey, I like “Just Like Heaven” as much as the next guy. Provided that the next guy is a clone of me.

KRS-One & Marley Marl, Hip-Hop Lives (Tracks 2, 6, 9, 10, 13) That level of specificity is necessary. Not quite great the whole way through, but on the songs that do work it’s top-of-form. This year’s hip-hop offerings have left me seriously bummed (I am holding out hope for both T.I. vs. T.I.P. and 8 Diagram, though), and KRS-One is the last person I thought I’d look to in 2007 for relevant hip-hop. Turns out, the years-in-the-making, hatchet-burying combo of Chris and Marley Marl offers more than enough fire to fill this year’s hip-hop void.

Bullwackies All Stars, Free for All. I’m cheating a little to include this. It originally came out in the ’70s but was just reissued a few weeks ago. Thoroughly rich and satisfying, the songs here eschew the usual dub minimalism in favor of bright, summery horn charts and movie-house organs.

Non eMusic

Dead Heart Bloom, Dead Heart Bloom. I’d been waiting for this album to show up on eMusic, but it hasn’t as of yet. I normally don’t go in for stuff like this, but there’s something haunting/ed about these songs that I can’t seem to shake. The song that first starts playing on this MySpace page isn’t so great, but click back up to “Chelsea Song 2″ and then “New York City Heat” for a better idea of what this sounds like.

Gui Boratto, Chromophobia. This is a bit outside my usual wheelhouse, but I am riveted by the songs on this record. Odd overlapping colors and shapes, tones pulse and recede and rhythms throb slowly and insistently. I can’t write about electronic music very well, so I’m just going to stop now. Maybe Todd can save me.

Colombia! The golden age of Discos Fuentes, the Powerhouse of Colombian Music So Soundway is one of my favorite labels in the world, full-stop. Their compilations are uniformly excellent (their compilation of Panamanian funk didn’t leave my iPod once last summer). This compilation is arriving at the right time of year, and is shaping up to be my soundtrack to this summer. Sweet, percolating grooves, darting brass and smoldering horns. Absolutely worth the import price.

Chris Letcher, Frieze We’ve got the EP, so I’m confident the full-length will come soon. Again, he’s picked the wrong song to auto-load when you click on the MySpace page (maybe I should help bands with this part-time?), but click back up to “Deep Frieze” for an idea of what this record sounds like. Letcher grew up in South Africa and currently lives in London. He’s been languishing under the radar for a while, but Frieze has all the elements needed to catapult him into public consciousness.

Bone Thugs N Harmony, “Flowmotion”. Another record I don’t quite love all the way through, but this is a mind-blowing opening-gambit. From the ghostly vocal hook to the tongue-shredding lyric delivery (tell me your head doesn’t explode when Krayzie Bone comes in to rattle through the second verse). This is very not-safe-for-work lyrically, but the acrobatics — both verbal and verse-wise — are astounding.